The Pressure Cooker (HB 3-Pointers + Sleepers)

DrunkenGineer 854

Hey guys, here's a conceptual deck I've been looking forward to. The first thing you'll notice is agenda composition: seven 3-pointers plus Domestic Sleepers. There are 7 cards in this deck that further the runner's chances of winning, and he needs to steal 3 of them in order to win. You, on the other hand, only need two of those seven in addition to scoring a Sleepers out of hand.

There are two other cards you might be curious about: Fast Track and Punitive Counterstrike. Fast Track (with Biotic Labor, if necessary) lets you make sure you score Sleepers in case the runner gets lucky and steals one of them; it can also pull Eden Fragment to your hand if the runner's in a bad position; scoring that lets you build up your taxing superservers at a profit. Nail that as your first agenda, and you've practically won the game. Punitive is your alternate win condition; if you have two in hand and a decently taxing server hiding an agenda, you either score 3 or disappear the runner when he steals it. Bonus points for Punitive always hitting for 3 (or, in the worst-case scenario, 6).

Ice

Ice is a good split of taxing and gear check; Static/Quandary/Fenris are my cheap hard ETR, while the remainder are just expensive as hell to break. Ice composition is definitely the most up for rejigging, especially if you can free up some space if Jackson proves to be unnecessary. Heimdall and Janus are primarily PriReq food, but you're EtF, so you can probably hard rez them in a pinch. Tollbooth and Ichi are good targets for PriReq too.

Other Options

There's definitely an alternate build of this that gets rid of the Overwriter, kill setup Brain Damage ice, and Punitives in favor of Aggressive Secretary, Will-o', Rototurret, Taurus, and Flare; that build would be centred on snapping off the runner's rig and blowing open scoring windows to push to 7 points.

Wait! No Archer?!

  1. Everyone will expect it. The runner can save their Sharpshooter for the single Ichi in this deck, if they ever see it.
  2. You only have two Sleepers, and you want to be scoring one of them every game that you're not going for a flatline. You can't really afford to give it up.

The Pressure Cooker

Having a single 3-pointer and an unclicked Sleepers puts the runner in a very precarious position: at an otherwise nonthreatening point total, you could be 3 turns away from winning, and he'll have one turn to stop it once you install-advance-advance that agenda. He can't afford to take the risk that you're bluffing and it's an Overwriter (or even another Sleepers that you leave on the table without scoring!). And it's really a catch-22, because unless the runner still has space in his deck for Plascrete, stealing that agenda could kill him too.

1 comments
11 Aug 2014 DrunkenGineer

I should note, I consider this deck to be one of the few that can call itself Rush without being Fast Advance. Fast Track-install-advance behind 2 ice with a biotic in hand should be a play that happens in most games; you want to push the runner into making bad decisions, content in the safety net of being essentially tied if the runner has a 3-pointer stolen. Bonus points if you Fast Track something with a Sleepers in hand and install the Sleepers instead. Let the runner waste his cash stealing 0 points and nail the 3 pointer once he's broke.